


Not Fighting Alone

by csichick_2



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 19:26:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4637412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/csichick_2/pseuds/csichick_2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tommy didn't have to build and mentor the new Ranger team alone. He had help behind the scenes from his oldest friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Jason was hurt that it appeared the rest of Rangers were going to leave without him, but then again Tommy had no guarantee that Jason was even going to show. And honestly, he almost didn't. If Tommy needed his help, he should have asked him himself, and not used Rocky as a go between. But in the end, he knew he couldn't sit this out. Rocky already had to because of his back, and Jason, Rocky, and Tommy were the only Red Rangers that were familiar with both the Machine Empire and Serpentera. And while Tommy is seemingly acting like nothing ever happened, Jason knows once this is over, they need to talk before they part ways for another five years.

He gets the chance on the MegaShip while they're on the way back to Earth when Tommy seeks him out.

"Sorry I wasn't at the wedding."

Jason raises an eyebrow. "That was four years ago, Tommy."

"Better late than never," he replies sheepishly. "So, uh, Rocky says you've got two kids."

Jason nods. "Drew is four and and MacKenzie is two. And much to her mother's horror, Mac hates pink."

Tommy chuckles. "How does Kim cope?"

"By praying Mac's taste will change as she gets older. I'm not holding my breath."

"Hayley hates pink too."

"Who's Hayley?"

Jason not knowing who his girlfriend was hit Tommy like a punch in the gut, but then again it is mostly his fault they haven't spoken in five years. "Hayley's my girlfriend. We're just about to move in together actually."

Jason smiles. "I'm happy for you. Rocky'd mentioned you were seeing someone but he never mentioned her name. Or that things were that serious."

Tommy sticks his hands in his pockets. "Can we fix things, Jase?"

"Depends on if you can be okay with me and Kim," Jason says, keeping his expression neutral.

"I was a complete ass that day, and what I said was wrong," Tommy replies. "If the two of you are happy, then yeah, I'm okay with you and Kim."

Jason lets out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that," he says. "There's been so many times where Kim and I both almost picked up the phone to call you, but we were afraid you wouldn't want to hear from us."

"When you moved back to California, I was halfway to your house before I turned around because I was afraid you'd slam the door in my face."

Jason shakes his head. "We're quite a pair aren't we? So tell me about this Hayley of yours."

"She's brilliant - did her undergrad at MIT and is working on her PhD in spare time. I'm pretty sure the only reason she ever even gave me the time of day is because we work together."

"How did you get a job somewhere that hires MIT graduates? You didn't even go to college."

"Let's just say that Anton Mercer has unique hiring practices," Tommy says cryptically. "The full story takes several hours."

"Anton Mercer? The same Anton Mercer that is missing, presumed dead?" Jason asks.

"So you've heard about that, then?"

"It's been all over the news, bro. Are you and Hayley in any danger?"

"What? Of course not," Tommy says completely unconvincingly.

"Tommy..."

"Not the time or the place, Jason," Tommy hisses. "How about you and Kim come up and visit us in Reefside. I think you'll both really like Hayley. "And I can tell you that really long story, while you tell me how you know Eric."

Jason snorts. "It's not that interesting of a story. Which I'm sure yours is."

"If it were anyone else's life, you'd think they made the whole thing up."

"I think all of us can say that, but you do tend to take that to a whole new level. Though at least the your powers never tried to kill you."

"Look Jase, if I'd known..."

"I'd have still made the same decision. Every time we morphed we put ourselves in danger. Sometimes I think it's a miracle we all made it through high school alive."

"Yeah," Tommy says, distracted.

"Whatever you're blaming yourself for, don't," Jason replies.

"It's nothing," Tommy retorts.

"Bullshit. Just because we haven't talked in awhile, doesn't mean I don't still know you."

"Kim got her power coin stolen which could have killed her, Billy's on another planet because he was aging too quickly, and Aisha left everything behind to stay in Africa. If I'd been a better leader...”

"None of that is your fault, Tommy."

"But..."

"Did you steal Kim's power coin?"

"What? No!"

"Exactly. You also didn't destroy the power coins, which was the reason Aisha was in Africa in the first place - looking for the Zeo Crystal shard. And you certainly didn't blow up the Command Center. And there was nothing you could have done to prevent Zordon's death either, so stop feeling guilty over that."

"How did you...?"

"Like I said, I know you. And we've all had the same thoughts of wondering if there was some way to save Zordon."

"I'd finally gotten used to being without powers, and then that day... It was like losing them all over again."

"We all felt it. Trini and Zack didn't as much as the rest of us, but they've also been without powers the longest."

“Do you ever wonder if our parents knew and just didn't want to let on?"

"Oh they knew," Jason replies. "Mom called me on it after I had to give up the Gold Ranger powers."

"How long did she know?"

"Since the beginning. Mom said she'd been to enough of my karate tournaments to know my fighting style when she saw it."

"That explains so much. My mom got extra attentive both times I lost the Green Ranger powers and backed off when I got powers back."

Jason snorts. "And you're just now figuring out that meant she knew."

Tommy shrugs. "She's a shrink. I just assumed she was going through one of her phases again."

Jason chuckles. "I'm sure she loves that you have such respect for her profession."

"I've been psychoanalyzed my whole life. Be glad that your mom is only a GP."

“Yeah, whatever,” Jason says with a shrug. “I’ll talk to Kim and see when a good time for us to get up to Reefside is.”

“Sounds good,” Tommy says. “And Jase, I’m glad you were here.”

Jason grins. “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.” And despite his initial reservations, Jason finds that it’s true.


	2. Chapter 2

Hayley is elbow deep in boxes in her bedroom when she hears the front door open. Tommy is the only one with the key, but she still arms herself with the nearest heavy object, which ends up being a lamp, just in case.

“It’s just me, babe,” Tommy says, visibly amused. “You can put the lamp down now.”

Hayley scowls at them. “Oh shut it. You can’t blame me for being a little jumpy.”

“If Anton’s disappearance had anything to do with the dinosaur DNA research, we’re not exactly that hard to find. And they’d break in, not use a key.”

“Well for all I knew, you were dead on the moon somewhere,” Hayley retorts. “You were supposed to call me when you got back to Earth.”

“I knew I forgot something,” Tommy replies sheepishly.

Hayley sighs. “You’re lucky I love you. Especially since this ruined our vacation.”

“You could have stayed.”

“Oh hell no. I refuse to spend that much time with both Bulk and Skull without you as a buffer.”

Tommy shakes his head. “I was only gone a day Hales.”

“Exactly. So are you going to tell me how it went or should I put you to work.”

“I thought Cole - the current Red - was going to pee his pants in excitement - but other than that everything went smoothly.” Tommy pauses. “Jason made it.”

“I told you he would. Please tell me the two of you talked.”

“I invited him and Kim up to visit.”

“Are you sure this is a good time? With what’s going on.”

“Jase already knows we worked for Anton and he knows something’s up. I tell him not to come, he’ll be in the car on the way here before I even hang up the phone. Besides we don’t know that there’s a link.”

Hayley sighs. “Is the hero complex a Red thing or are all Rangers like that?”

“We all are to an extent, but I think its worse in Reds.”

Hayley sighs again. “Again, you’re lucky I love you.”

“I love you too, Hales. How about we take the night off both from packing and from impending doom.”

Hayley smiles at him. “I like that plan.”


	3. Chapter 3

Kim and Jason have a rule about not discussing anything Ranger related in front of the kids, so she has to wait until they’re in bed before she can ask about the mission.

“Obviously you won, since you made it back in one piece, but other than that, how did it go?” she asks, curling into Jason’s side as they sit on the couch.

“The rookie’s lucky he didn’t get himself killed - he was a little overeager,” Jason replies. “And Tommy’s convinced there’s some sort of interesting story to my knowing Eric.”

Kim snorts. “I take it you didn’t tell him that he lives down the street.”

“What would be the fun in that? Besides I can use withholding the story as leverage if he continues to pretend that his boss going missing means he’s not in any danger.”

“What?” Kim all but shrieks, sitting up straight and staring at Jason. “You’d better explain what you mean by that, mister.”

“Tommy and his girlfriend Hayley both work for Anton Mercer and we’ve both seen the stories of his disappearance all over the news. I asked Tommy if he was in danger and it was the most unconvincing no I’ve never heard.”

Kim shakes her head. “He never has been capable of staying out of trouble. I’m glad he has someone though.”

Jason nods. “They’re moving in together too. He invited us to Reefside so that we can both catch up and meet Hayley.”

“This weekend should work. If Eric can’t watch them, I’m sure either Adam or Rocky will be able to drive over from Angel Grove.”

“You know someday we’ll have to hire a babysitter like normal people.”

Kim shakes her head. “Only former rangers as babysitters for us.”

Jason presses a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ll call Tommy in the morning and let him know to expect us this weekend.”


	4. Chapter 4

When Hayley wakes up on Saturday morning to find the other side of the bed empty, she is livid. She knows Tommy well enough to know how hard it is to get him out of bed on the weekend, so for him to be awake first, he’s up to something that he doesn’t know her to know about. She sighs as she gets out of bed, of all the damn days for Tommy to get all secretive, it’s the day that Jason and Kim are coming up to visit. When she gets down to the kitchen, she finds that Tommy left a note saying that he had to check on something at work and he’ll be back well before Jason and Kim arrive, which Hayley mentally revises to a fifty-fifty chance.

She spends the morning cleaning the kitchen cabinets. Tommy’s inability to use more than a microwave means there will be plenty of room for her stuff when the movers bring it over, but it also means there are layers upon layers of dust that need to be dealt with first. Once she’s done, she takes a quick shower, and by the time noon approaches, Tommy is still nowhere to be found and Jason and Kim will be arriving any second. When the doorbell rings, she curses Tommy under her breath as she goes to answer the door.

“Come on in,” she says. “Tommy hopefully will be here soon. He said he’d be back in plenty of time, but we all know how he is with punctuality.”

Kim can’t help but laugh. “Some things never change. It’s so good to meet you Hayley. I’m glad Tommy has someone.”

“And I’m glad the three of you are getting a chance to reconnect. It’s so nice to finally meet you both,” Hayley replies. “Can I get you anything? I’m giving Tommy half an hour before we go ahead and have lunch without him.”

“I’ll be good until then,” Jason replies. “If Tommy hadn’t warned me that this place is out in the middle of the woods, I’d have thought he’d forgotten his own address.”

“I thought he was nuts at first, but no neighbors makes it a lot easier to bring work home,” Hayley replies.

“Why would a lack of neighbors be important for that?” Kim asks.

“What do you know about Anton Mercer Industries?” Hayley asks.

“Mostly that they do archeological digs looking for dinosaur bones and stuff,” Jason replies. “Which clearly isn’t the whole story since Mercer’s gone missing and Tommy is the world’s most unconvincing liar.”

Hayley snorts. “Tommy keeps trying to convince me that Anton’s disappearance is just a coincidence and that it has nothing to do with the sensitive project the two of them have been working on. The fact that he left before I woke up this morning to check on work means he doesn’t believe it any more than I do.”

“A sensitive project with dinosaur bones?” Kim asks.

Hayley shakes her head. “Dinosaur DNA. I thought it was a bad idea, but I’m just the computer genius.”

“I’m going to have to agree with you,” Jason replies. “How the hell did Tommy get mixed up in all of this? How the hell did you get mixed up in all of this?”

“Anton hired me to build his network when I was still in undergrad. I thought about leaving when Anton started trying to play God, but someone had to keep an eye on Tommy and protect him from himself. As for Tommy, he made some sort of deal with the devil to keep archeological digs off the reservation where his brother lives. I’ve yet to get more detail out of him than that.”

Kim shakes his head. “Always putting others before him. He still hasn’t changed.”

“Well except for the haircut,” Jason says with a smirk.

“What did Tommy do to his hair?” Kim asks.

“Cut it all off,” Hayley replies. “It’s his attempt to look more grown-up and professional. The spikes sort of miss the mark on professional though.”

Kim snorts. “I can’t see him ever looking professional. And someone clearly forgot to tell me about this after he saw him the other day.

“Thought it would be more fun this way,” Jason says with a shrug, causing Hayley to laugh and Kim to punch him in the arm.

The phone suddenly rings and as much as Hayley hopes that its Tommy saying when he’ll be back, she knows its not like him. “Hello?” she says warily, knowing that only a few people know the landline number, as Tommy usually uses his cell.

Jason looks at her concerned as her upbeat tone doesn’t match her expression. From Hayley’s explanation of Tommy probably forgetting to charge his phone, he gathers that Tommy must not be answering his cell, which makes him even more worried.

“Tommy’s mom,” Hayley says when she hangs up the phone. “I don’t want to worry her unnecessarily, but I know Tommy’s phone was charged last night because I plugged it in myself,” she adds as she goes to the living room and turns on the news. “Oh my god.”

“Is that why Charlotte called?” Jason asks, looking at the coverage of a massive explosion on an island.

Hayley nods. “That island is just off the coast. That’s where Tommy and Anton did their research.”

“Oh my god,” Kim says, echoing Hayley’s earlier words. “Is that where he would have gone earlier?”

“Yeah,” Hayley says softly. “They had these portals that were adapted from the teleportation you guys used to have. But if he’d been able to activate one, he’d either be here or he would have called.”

Jason rests a hand on Hayley’s shoulder. “Maybe his phone broke when he got away and he can’t call. Can the portals go anywhere?”

“Yeah. You can either direct them where to go or have it be random in case of emergency. If he was being attacked, he’d go the random route and could literally be anywhere. Or if he couldn’t get to a portal, he would jump off a cliff into the water, which also would have killed his phone.”

“All the Reds exchanged numbers in case of future emergency. Between us all, there’s resources to search air, land, and sea, so I’ll make some phone calls.”

“Thanks Jason,” Hayley says weakly. “I think I need to sit down.”

Kim takes Hayley’s arm and guides her too the couch as Jason goes to the next room to make phone calls. “We both know that if there was a way off that island, Tommy found it. And with all the resources of the Rangers, they’ll find him and have him home to you in no time,” Kim says, hoping she sounds more convincing than she feels.

“You sound about as convincing as Tommy did when he said Anton’s disappearance was a coincidence, but thanks for trying,” Hayley says, trying not to cry. “I know this has to be hard on the two of you too.”

Kim nods. “He and Jason were as close as brothers once. And well, there’s always a special spot for your first love.”

“Yeah, there is,” Hayley says. “My sister has to keep reminding me what a dick my first boyfriend was because I have selective memory when it comes to him.”

“I got lucky with Tommy. The one after him... Let’s just say that for me, it’s a good thing Jason came to Miami when he did.”

“Tommy was worried that Jason wouldn’t show for the mission because of the way he acted when he found out about the two of you. He never told me what he said, but I know it was pretty bad.”

“I almost didn’t, but guilt and duty won out in the end. I mostly was just annoyed I heard about it from Rocky instead of Tommy. Speaking of, Rocky insists on driving up here. He seems to think that the two of you are going to inevitably break down and that I won’t be able to handle that on my own.”

Hayley snorts. “Rocky knows me better than that. He just needs an excuse to do something besides sit on his ass.”

“I would say he knows me better too, but I wasn’t always rational where Tommy was concerned,” Kim adds.

Jason smirks. “Well you wouldn’t always have been shrieking his name if one or the other of you was always in trouble.”

Kim grabs one of the couch cushions and throws it across the room at him. “Not our fault that Zedd was obsessed with the both of us. Certainly better than Goldar.”

“Oh god, that was creepy,” Jason says with a shudder.

“He must have been so depressed when you left. He never quite took to Rocky or Adam the same way. Then again, Adam did have Scorpina.”

“For the most part I have no idea what you’re talking about, so you’ll have to fill me in,” Hayley says. “It will make a good distraction.”


	5. Chapter 5

Tommy swears when he realizes he lost his phone somewhere on the island. Not that it would have done him much good as it would have been destroyed by being stranded in the middle of the ocean. He knows its too far to swim, so he settles for treading water and hoping someone finds him sooner rather than later. He’s having an internal debate on whether its better to drown out here or get killed by Hayley for making him worry when he sees what looks suspiciously like a zord circling overhead. At first he thinks he’s hallucinating because he knows its been hours, but that’s before the zord swoops in and a blonde pops out. He’s pretty sure she’s the current yellow, but for the life of him he can’t remember her name.

“There’s a lot of people looking for you, Oliver,” she says. “Taylor Earhardt, formerly of the United States Air Force, currently of Wild Force team.”

“How’d you know to look for me?” Tommy asks. “I wouldn’t have thought the explosion would have made the news yet.”

“Oh its made the news. Cole heard from one of the other Reds - Jason I think. You’ve got me, Lightspeed, and the Silver Guardians hunting for you.”

Tommy groans - in getting away from Mesagog, he completely forgot that Jason and Kim were coming up. “Hayley’s going to kill me. Twice.”

“I’m pretty sure your girlfriend is going to be glad you’re alive,” Taylor says, though silently she thinks she wouldn’t blame her if she did. “I’m hovering as close to the water as I can, but Lightspeed has a zord with ziplines and grapple hooks. It’s on its way, so we’ll have you out of that water pretty soon.”

“Thanks,” Tommy says without much enthusiasm, as he’s decided death by drowning would be much more preferable than death by Hayley.


End file.
